Betty,

I have been exercising for about 6-months now using mainly treadmill every day for about 50 minutes (walking with a 10% incline) and I have bee using a Total Gym for strength training.  I recently added lifting free weights with a buddy on 3 nights a week and it is really making me feel some muscles I obviously haven't been working enough.  He tells me lifting the circuit program will require me to take in extra protein and he recommends I drink a protein shake using whey protein, frozen fruit (blueberries and peaches are what he uses) & 12 ounces of skim milk (he uses vanilla "silk", but I noticed it contains sugar and extra stuff I don't really want to add for calories and I like skim milk).  What is your opinion on this and how much protein should I take in (I don't know my body fat percentage but I started alli at 294 pounds last August and now I am down to 196 pounds; I am 5' 7" tall and have a 36 inch waist now).  There are so many protein powder types and brands on the market, and I really don't know how much I need.  Hope you can help......thanks.

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

There is usually no need to take in any extra protein. All that you need to do is consume a well balanced diet. Each nutrient is needed for different reasons so you can't go too low in any of them. When you go too high in protein and too low in other nutrients your protein is going to end up being used for energy instead of muscle building.

The guidelines for our diets can be seen at http://www.iom.edu/?id=12702 and are:

• 45 percent to 65 percent from carbohydrates
• 20 percent to 35 percent from fat
• 10 percent to 35 percent from protein

A goal for you could be 25% of your calories from fat, 25% from protein, and 50% from carbohyrdrates. You can even increase your protein to 30% and decrease your carbohydrates to 45%. I think that it's very hard to go that low in carbohydrates so try for 50% first.

Does this make sense?

Betty Kovacs, MS, RD

Thanks for responding Betty and I am glad to see that you don't believe I need to take supplements with my weight lifting program.  There are so many opinions out there (contradictory one's also) and I often think many of these claims are nothing more than "sales" efforts or at least simply uninformed or uneducated opinions.  I would much rather eat an extra can of tuna in order to get some extra protein when needed. Thanks again....

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

I am glad that you took the time to ask me about this. There is a lot of inaccurate information about nutrition out there. I actually spend more of my time telling people what is not true then what is true.

I am here to help so let me know whenever you have a question,

Betty Kovacs, MS, RD